Ryū Murakami

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Japanese writer and filmmaker (born 1952)

title: "Ryū Murakami" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1952-births", "living-people", "japanese-film-directors", "japanese-psychological-fiction-writers", "writers-from-nagasaki-prefecture", "people-from-sasebo", "people-from-fussa,-tokyo", "20th-century-japanese-novelists", "21st-century-japanese-novelists", "akutagawa-prize-winners", "yomiuri-prize-winners"] description: "Japanese writer and filmmaker (born 1952)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryū_Murakami" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Japanese writer and filmmaker (born 1952) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox writer "]

Field	Value
name	Ryū Murakami
image	Ryu Murakami.jpg
imagesize	275px
caption	Ryū Murakami in 2005
birth_date
birth_place	Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan
occupation	{{flatlist
nationality	Japanese
movement	Postmodernism
notableworks	{{plainlist
::

| name = Ryū Murakami | image = Ryu Murakami.jpg | imagesize = 275px | caption = Ryū Murakami in 2005 | pseudonym = | birth_date = | birth_place = Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = {{flatlist|

Novelist
essayist
filmmaker | nationality = Japanese | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = Postmodernism | influences = | influenced = | website= | notableworks = {{plainlist|
Almost Transparent Blue
Coin Locker Babies
69
Piercing
In the Miso Soup}}

Ryū Murakami is a Japanese novelist, essayist and filmmaker. His novels explore human nature through themes of disillusion, drug use, surrealism, murder and war, set against the dark backdrop of Japan. His best known novels are Almost Transparent Blue, Audition, Coin Locker Babies, and In the Miso Soup.

Biography

Murakami was born Ryūnosuke Murakami in Sasebo, Nagasaki on 19 February 1952. The name Ryūnosuke was taken from the protagonist in Daibosatsu-tōge, a work of fiction by .

Murakami attended school in Sasebo. While a student in senior high, he joined in forming a rock band called Coelacanth, as the drummer. In the summer of his third year in senior high, Murakami and his fellow students barricaded the rooftop of his high school and he was placed under house arrest for three months. During this time, he had an encounter with hippie culture, which had a strong influence on him.

After graduating from high school in 1970, Murakami formed another rock band and produced some 8-millimeter indie films. He enrolled in the silkscreen department at Gendaishichosha School of Art in Tokyo, but dropped out in the first year. In October 1972, he moved to Fussa, Tokyo and was accepted for the sculpture program at Musashino Art University. He married his wife, a keyboard player, in the 1970s and their son was born in 1980. In the early 1990s, Murakami devoted himself to disseminating Cuban music in Japan and established a label, Murakami's, within Sony Music.

Murakami started the e-magazine JMM (Japan Mail Media) in 1999 and still serves as its chief editor. Since 2006, he has also hosted a talk show on business and finance called Kanburia Kyuden, broadcast on TV Tokyo. The co-host is Eiko Koike. In the same year, he began a video streaming service, RVR (Ryu's Video Report). In 2010, he established a company, , to sell and produce eBooks.

Works

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Murakami's first work was the short novel Almost Transparent Blue, written while he was still a university student. It deals with promiscuity and drug use among disaffected youth. Critically acclaimed as a new style of literature, it won the Gunzo Prize for New Writers in 1976, despite some objections on the grounds of decadence. Later the same year, his Blue won the Akutagawa Prize, going on to become a bestseller.

In 1980, Murakami published a much longer novel, Coin Locker Babies, again to critical acclaim, and won the 3rd Noma Liberal Arts New Member Prize. Coin Locker Babies, became a popular novel among Japanese punks and alienated youths. Next came the autobiographical novel 69, and then Ai to Gensō no Fascism (1987), revolving around the struggle to reform Japan's survival-of-the-fittest society with a secret "Hunting Society". His work Topaz (1988) concerns a sado-masochistic woman's radical expression of her sexuality.

Murakami's The World in Five Minutes From Now (1994) is written as a point of view in a parallel universe version of Japan, and was nominated for the 30th Tanizaki Prize. In 1996 he continued his autobiography 69, and released the Murakami Ryū Movie and Novel Collection. He also won the Taiko Hirabayashi Prize. The same year, he wrote the novel Topaz II about a female high school student engaged in "compensated dating", which later was adapted as the live-action film Love & Pop by anime director Hideaki Anno. His Popular Hits of the Showa Era concerns the escalating firepower in a battle between five teenage male and five middle-aged female social rejects. Literary scholar Barbara Greene suggests that the text reveals how "the invisible violence of post-Bubble Japan’s social order is made explicit through a low-stakes, yet hyperviolent, guerilla war undertaken by a set of ludicrous and narcissistic characters whose increasingly deadly attacks are met with public indifference. Within the consumer-capitalist social order, personal satisfaction is the paramount goal..."

In 1997 came the psychological thriller novel In the Miso Soup, set in Tokyo's Kabuki-cho red-light district, which won him the Yomiuri Prize for Fiction that year. Parasites (Kyōsei chū, 2000) is about a young hikikomori fascinated by war. It won him the 36th Tanizaki Prize. The same year Exodus From Hopeless Japan (Kibō no Kuni no Exodus) told of junior high school students who lose their desire to be involved in normal Japanese society and instead create a new one over the internet.

In 2001, Murakami became involved in his friend Ryuichi Sakamoto's group NML No More Landmines, which sets out to remove landmines from former battle sites around the world.

In 2004, Murakami announced the publication of 13 Year Old Hello Work, aimed at increasing interest in young people who are entering the workforce. Hantō wo Deyo (2005) is about an invasion of Japan by North Korea. It won him the Noma Liberal Arts Prize and .

The novel Audition was made into a feature film by Takashi Miike. Murakami reportedly liked it so much he gave Miike his blessing to adapt Coin Locker Babies. The screenplay for the latter was worked on by director Jordan Galland but Miike failed to raise enough funding for it. An adaptation directed by Michele Civetta is currently in production.

In 2011, Utau Kujira won the .

Selected bibliography

Novels

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Year	Japanese Title	English Title	Notes
1976	{{nihongo	限りなく透明に近いブルー	Kagirinaku Tōmei ni Chikai Burū}}
1977	{{nihongo	海の向こうで戦争が始まる	Umi no Mukō de Sensō ga Hajimaru}}
1980	{{nihongo	コインロッカー・ベイビーズ	Koinrokkā Beibīzu}}
1983	{{nihongo	だいじょうぶマイ・フレンド	Daijōbu mai furendo}}
1985	{{nihongo	テニスボーイの憂鬱	Tenisu Bōi no Yūutsu}}
1987	69 Shikusuti Nain	69	English translation by Ralph F. McCarthy, published by Pushkin Press, 2013
{{nihongo	愛と幻想のファシズム	Ai to Gensō no Fasizumu}}	Fascism of Love and Fantasy
1989	{{nihongo	ラッフルズホテル	Raffuruzu Hoteru}}
1991	{{nihongo	コックサッカーブルース	Kokkusakkā Burūsu}}
{{nihongo	超電導ナイトクラブ	Chōdendō Naito Kurabu}}	Superconduction Nightclub
1992	{{nihongo	イビサ	Ibisa}}
{{nihongo	長崎オランダ村	Nagasaki Oranda Mura}}	Nagasaki Holland Village
1993	{{nihongo	エクスタシー	Ekusutashī}}
{{nihongo	フィジーの小人	Fijī no Kobito}}	Fijian Midget
{{nihongo	368Y Par4 第2打	Sanbyakurokujūhachi Yādo Pā Fō Dai Ni Da}}	368Y Par4 the 2nd shot
{{nihongo	音楽の海岸	Ongaku no Kaigan}}	The seashore of the music
1994	{{nihongo	昭和歌謡大全集	Shōwa Kayō Daizenshū}}
{{nihongo	五分後の世界	Gofungo no Sekai}}	The World in Five Minutes From Now
{{nihongo	ピアッシング	Piasshingu}}	Piercing
1995	KYOKO	Kyoko	French translation by Corinne Atlan
1996	{{nihongo	ヒュウガ・ウイルス五分後の世界II	Hūga Uirusu Gofungo no Sekai Tū}}
{{nihongo	メランコリア	Merankoria}}	Melancholia
{{nihongo	ラブ&ポップトパーズII	Rabu ando Poppu Topāzu Tū}}	Love & Pop: Topaz II
1997	{{nihongo	オーディション	Ōdishon}}
{{nihongo	ストレンジ・デイズ	Sutorenji Deizu}}	Strange Days
{{nihongo	インザ・ミソスープ	In za Misosūpu}}	In the Miso Soup
French translation ("Miso Soup") by Corinne Atlan. Published in French January 2003.
1998	{{nihongo	ライン	Rain}}
2000	{{nihongo	共生虫	Kyōsei Chū}}
{{nihongo	希望の国のエクソダス	Kibō no Kuni no Ekusodasu}}	Exodus of the country of hope
2001	{{nihongo	タナトス	Tanatosu}}
THE MASK CLUB	The Mask Club
{{nihongo	最後の家族	Saigo no Kazoku}}	The Last Family
2005	{{nihongo	半島を出よ	Hantō o Deyo}}
2010		A Singing Whale
2011	{{nihongo	心はあなたのもとに	Kokoro wa Anata no Motoni}}
2015	{{nihongo	オールド・テロリスト	Ōrudo Terorisuto}}
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Short story collections

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Year	Japanese Title	English Title	Notes
1984	{{nihongo	悲しき熱帯	Kanashiki Nettai}}
1986	{{nihongo	POST ポップアートのある部屋	Posuto Poppu Āto no aru Heya}}
{{nihongo	走れ！タカハシ	Hashire! Takahashi}}	Run! Takahashi
	New York City Marathon
1988	{{nihongo	トパーズ	Topāzu}}
{{nihongo	村上龍料理小説集	Murakami Ryū Ryōri Shōsetsushū}}	The collection of the Ryū Murakami dish novels
1991	{{nihongo	恋はいつも未知なもの	Koi wa itsumo Michina mono}}
1995	{{nihongo	村上龍映画小説集	Murakami Ryū Eiga Shōsetsushū}}
1996	{{nihongo	モニカ-音楽家の夢・小説家の物語	Monika – Ongakuka no Yume Shōsetsuka no Monogatari}}
1997	{{nihongo	白鳥	Hakuchō}}
1998	{{nihongo	ワイン一杯だけの真実	Wain Ippai dake no Shinjitsu}}
2003	{{nihongo	とおくはなれてそばにいて	Tōku Hanarete Soba ni ite}}
{{nihongo	どこにでもある場所どこにもいないわたし	Dokonidemo aru Basho Dokonimo inai Watashi}}
2007	{{nihongo	特権的情人美食村上龍料理&官能小説集	Tokkenteki Jōjin Bishoku Murakami Ryū Ryōri & Kannō Shōsetsushū}}
2012	{{nihongo	55歳からのハローライフ	Gojūgo-sai kara no Harōraifu}}
2016		Tokyo Decadence: 15 Stories	A collection of stories from several of Murakami's story collections, translated by Ralph McCarthy. Spanish translation by J.C. Cortés
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English short stories

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Year	English Title	Notes
2004	It's Been Just a Year and a Half Now Since I Went with My Boss to That Bar	url=http://www.all-story.com/search.cgi?action=show_author&author_id=220
2005	I am a Novelist	short story published in The New Yorker (Jan. 3, 2005).
English translation by Ralph McCarthy
2009	At the Airport	short story in Zoetrope All-Story (Vol. 13, No. 2, 2009). English translation by Ralph McCarthy.
2010	No Matter How Many Times I Read Your Confession, There's One Thing I Just Don't Understand: Why Didn't You Kill the Woman?	Zoetrope All-Story (Vol. 14, No. 4, 2010).
2011	Penlight	Zoetrope All-Story (Vol. 15, No. 3, 2011). English translation by Ralph McCarthy.
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Non-fiction and essays

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Year	Japanese Title	English Title	Notes
1985	{{nihongo	アメリカン★ドリーム	Amerikan Dorīmu}}
1987	{{nihongo	すべての男は消耗品である。	Subete no Otoko wa Shōmōhin de aru}}
1991	{{nihongo	村上龍全エッセイ 1976-1981	Murakami Ryū zen essei 1976-1981}}
{{nihongo	村上龍全エッセイ 1982-1986	Murakami Ryū zen essei 1982-1986}}	All the Ryū Murakami essays 1982-1986
{{nihongo	村上龍全エッセイ 1987-1991	Murakami Ryū zen essei 1987-1991}}	All the Ryū Murakami essays 1987-1991
1992	{{nihongo	龍言飛語	Ryū gen higo}}
1993	{{nihongo	「普通の女の子」として存在したくないあなたへ。	"Futsū no onna no ko" to shite sonzaishitakunai anata e.}}
1996	{{nihongo	あなたがいなくなった後の東京物語	Anata ga inakunatta ato no Tōkyō monogatari }}
1998	{{nihongo	寂しい国の殺人	Samishī koku no satsujin}}
{{nihongo	フィジカル・インテンシティ	Fijikaru intenshiti}}	Physical Intensity
1999	{{nihongo	寂しい国から遥かなるワールドサッカーへ	Samishī koku kara haruka wārudo sakkā e}}
2000	{{nihongo	誰にでもできる恋愛	Dare ni demo de kiru renai}}
2001	{{nihongo	ダメな女	Dame na onna}}
2002	{{nihongo	だまされないために、わたしは経済を学んだ村上龍weekly report	Damesarenai tameni, watashi wa keizai manda Murakami Ryū Weekly Report}}
{{nihongo	恋愛の格差	Renai no Kakusa}}	Involuntary celibacy
{{nihongo	マクロ・日本経済からミクロ・あなた自身へ村上龍weekly report	Makuro Nihon keizai kara mikuro anata jishin e Murakami Ryū Weekly Report }}	From macro, Japanese economy to micro, yourself: Ryū Murakami weekly report
2003	{{nihongo	自殺よりはSEX 村上龍の恋愛・女性論	Jisatsu yori wa SEX Murakami Ryū no Renai Jōsei ron}}
2006	{{nihongo	わたしは甘えているのでしょうか？27歳・OL	Watashi wa amaete iru no deshō ka? 27 sai OL}}
{{nihongo	村上龍文学的エッセイ集	Murakami Ryū bungaku teki essei shū }}	The collection of Ryū Murakami literary essays
2007	{{nihongo	案外、買い物好き	Angai, kaimono suki}}
2008	{{nihongo	それでもわたしは、恋がしたい　幸福になりたい　お金も欲しい	Sore de mo watashi wa koi ga shitai kōfuku ni naritai okane mo hoshī}}
2009	{{nihongo	無趣味のすすめ	Mushumi no susume }}
2010	{{nihongo	逃げる中高年、欲望のない若者たち	Nigeru chuukōnen, yokubō no nai wakamonotachi}}
2012	{{nihongo	櫻の樹の下には瓦礫が埋まっている	Sakura no ki no shita niwa gareki ga uzumatte iru.}}
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Interviews and letters

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Year	Japanese Title	English Title	Notes
1977
Kenji Nakagami vs Ryū Murakami: Our ship unmoors in a stagnant fog	with Kenji Nakagami
1981		Walk, Don't Run: Ryū Murakami vs Haruki Murakami	with Haruki Murakami
1985		EV.Cafe ultra-Darwinism	with Ryuichi Sakamoto
1992		See you, my friend	Ryū Murakami = Ryuichi Sakamoto letters
1994		Ryū Murakami + Noi Sawaragi Latest Discussion: God is in the details	with Noi Sawaragi
1999		Ryū Murakami interview collection: The Unbearable Salsa of Being
2006		Dialogue to stare at "individual": Ryū Murakami X Joichi Ito
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Picture book

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Year	Japanese Title	English Title	Notes
1983		Picture book: All Right, My Friend	Illustrator: Katsu Yoshida
1989			Illustrator: Sumako Yasui
1996		Wonderful Jennifer	Illustrator: Yoko Yamamoto
1999		What were we able to buy with that money?: Bubble Fantasy	Illustrator: Yuka Hamano
2000		The Straight Story	picture book of the movie (director: David Lynch) of the same title, Illustrator: Yuka Hamano
2001		The old man goes to the mountain for money-making. The investment occasionally produces hope.	Illustrator: Yuka Hamano
2003		Hello Work for 13 years old	Illustrator: Yuka Hamano
	Postman	Illustrator: Yuka Hamano
		Shield	Illustrator: Yuka Hamano
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Filmography

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Year	Japanese Title	English Title	Role	Director
1979	限りなく透明に近いブルー
Kagirinaku tōmei ni chikai burū	Almost Transparent Blue	Novel, Scriptwriter, Director	Ryū Murakami
1983	だいじょうぶマイ・フレンド
Daijōbu mai furendo	All Right, My Friend	Novel, Scriptwriter, Director	Ryū Murakami
1989	ラッフルズホテル
Raffuruzu Hoteru	Raffles Hotel	Novel, Director	Ryū Murakami
1992	トパーズ
Topāzu	Topaz a.k.a. Tokyo Decadence	Novel, Scriptwriter, Director	Ryū Murakami
1996	ラブ＆ポップ
Rabu & Poppu	Love & Pop	Novel	Hideaki Anno
1999	オーディション
Ōdishon	Audition	Novel	Takashi Miike
2000	KYOKO	Because of You	Novel, Scriptwriter, Director	Ryū Murakami
2001	走れ！イチロー
Hashire! Ichirō	Run! Ichiro	Novel	Kazuki Ōmori
2003	昭和歌謡大全集
Shōwa kayō daizenshū	Karaoke Terror: The Complete Japanese Showa Songbook	Novel	Tetsuo Shinohara
2004	シクスティナイン
Shikusutinain	69	Novel	Lee Sang-il
2006	ポプラル！
Popuraru!	Popular!	Executive Producer	Jen Paz
2018	ピアッシング	Piercing	Novel	Nicolas Pesce
::

References

Noble, Barnes &. "Almost Transparent Blue".
Pilling, David. (27 September 2013). "Ryu Murakami".
(2013-09-27). "Ryu Murakami". Financial Times.
"カンブリア宮殿：テレビ東京".
link. (2010-11-04). ITmedia Enterprise
(2013-03-08). "iBookstoreとともに「村上龍電子本製作所」が始動". [[ASCII Corporation]].
"Murakami ryu Archives".
(3 May 2013). "The Future of Japan Is 'Very Dark', Says Ryu Murakami".
(2011-10-30). "Ryu and Me".
Greene, Barbara. (2023-05-17). "A subaltern civil war: Precariat in-Fighting in Murakami Ryu's Popular Hits of the Showa Era". Contemporary Japan.
"404 Error - IMDb".
Boddy, Kasia. (17 February 2018). "Audition by Ryu Murakami - review".
(24 July 2010). "Might Ryu Murakami's switch to the iPad signal the beginning of the end for traditional publishers?".
"Zoetrope: All-Story".

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